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ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners have set the 2025 tax rates starting with the summer tax collection in action at their weekly meeting Thursday morning.

      The setting of the millage rates for the 2025 year came after commissioners heard from Equalization Director Warren Parrish in April and accepted his equalization report. Parrish reported then that his department had done hundreds of assessment related studies in preparing the report.

County wide, equalized values went up 16 percent from 2023 to 2024 and is going up 7.6 percent from 2024 to 2025. The total equalized value for real and personal property in 2025 is $15.73 billion, up from $14.62 billion in 2024.

The millage rates approved at Thursday’s meeting were for the upcoming summer and winter tax collections. The summer levy will be 4.7408 mills for the general fund, while the winter levies will be 0.4469 mill for 9-1-1 service, 0.3476 mill for public safety, 0.2979 mill for senior citizen centers and 0.0994 mill for county parks.

The revenue received for the various funds is based on the millage rate multiplied by the 2025 taxable value of $10.612 billion which excludes the value of renaissance zone properties, disabled veterans’ properties and senior housing.

A total of $62.96 million is expected to be collected for the five county funds with the bulk of It, $50.3 million, going to the county general fund.

Parrish’s efforts when it comes to equalization were recognized by County Board Vice-Chairman Teri Freehling and County Administrator Brian Dissette.

“I want to recognize Warren Parrish for his work,” Freehling said. “We are not having a Headlee rollback of our millage rates this year because of his work. He went over all the calculations and it will have an impact of $300,000 just this year.”

“Warren caught an assessing error that has a massive monetary impact on the county,” Dissette told commissioners. “You could line up dozens of assessments who wouldn’t have caught it. He caught it, his work is so solid.”

      Dissette reminded commissioners that there isn’t a county board meeting next Thursday, May 29, as it is a fifth Thursday. Commissioners don’t meet on fifth Thursdays of a month or when a holiday falls on a Thursday.

        The county board’s next meeting will be June 5 at the 19 North Froehlichs meeting center in Three Oaks. The board will have two more night meetings this year, July 10 at the Watervliet Charter Township Hall and Aug. 7 at the MSU Extension Service Center near Benton Harbor.

    Dissette said he’s again offering facility orientation tours to county commissioners in advance of the June 5 meeting in Three Oaks. This time, he will lead a tour of county owned facilities in the south county including the south county courthouse in Niles, the Bakertown garage south of Buchanan and Madeline Bertrand County Park south of Niles.

 In action Thursday, commissioners approved applying for annual grants for the county’s specialty court programs. The county is applying for $139,758 for the mental health court, $189,440 for the Swift & Sure Sanctions program and $52,755 for the drug treatment court.